1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to mechanical mounting systems for electronic components and more particularly to mounting a printed circuit boards to a motherboard.
2. Description of the Related Arts
Conventionally, mechanical card guides are used to align a printed circuit board (PCB) when the PCB is being mounted perpendicular to a motherboard. Standalone mechanical card guides protrude significantly from the motherboard, and their large size makes them undesirable in many applications. Some board-mounted connectors, such as connectors for random access memory, may function as card guides for wider and shorter PCBs, but these connectors must be as long as the wider dimension of the PCB in order to properly align the PCB. In addition, these connectors must extend a significant height above the surface of the motherboard in order to effectively hold the PCB perpendicular to the motherboard. In a chassis with a substantially flat shape (e.g., a 1U form factor), a tall connector significantly reduces the amount of vertical space that is available for the PCB.